The Fourth Day of Leuthen: December 1, 2016

On December 1, 1757 it was reported that 30 squadrons of Prussian hussars arrived from Glogau, representing the first of the troops that Zieten was assembling in that city. The rest of the force would arrive tomorrow - December 2nd - and include ten of the massive fortress cannon: 12-pound Brummers, so named after their deep throated boom.

A Saxon fortress gun at Koenigstein Castle near Dresden gives you the impression of what a Brummer might have looked like. The picture was taken in October 2016 during the Christopher Duffy (in front next to the wheel) tour of Fredrician battlefields. I am on the far right in green coat and tan baseball cap.

Schematic drawing of the Brummer - provided by Christian Rogge, who created the illustration

These thick barreled pieces on their massive carriages could take heavy charges which would wreck the ordinary 12-pounders, and the Prussian gunner Captain von Holtzendorff testifies that "thiswas the first time that the Austrians had been exposed to the shot of the Brummers. They were inclined to regard us as barbarians who had broken international law, and the prisoners directed the most bitter reproaches against the Prussian gunners for having deployed these pieces, which devoured everything in their path, and shot them up without a Prussian being in sight.:

Prussia's Glory - page 156 - Christopher Duffy

The Brummer battery of ten guns played an important role in the battle of Leuthen, so I did an inventory of my painted Prussian artillery, discovering that I only had one gun model. So today, I painted two more Brummer models to use in the Leuthen war-game.

Minden Prussian 12-pounder in front and 12-pound Brummer in the background.

A pair of Brummers "in situ" prepare to fire on the Austrians. Cannon models are Minden Miniatures.

The first picture above compares the conventional Prussian 12-pounder with a 12-pound Brummer. Note the significant difference in barrel sizes.

The second picture shows a pair of Brummers on their artillery crew stands, as used in my wargame armies. I don't glue down the cannon models to the bases so this allows me to substitute cannon models as needed for a particular wargame scenario. The models are part of the Minden Miniatures artillery equipment range.

DAF